Saturday, February 25, 2006

Weekend Recap

Georgetown 68, Syracuse 53
'Cuse got the split it needed this week to stay in the bracket. Their fate will likely ultimately be decided by the Big East tourney.

Vanderbilt 57, South Carolina 56
'Cocks officially punched their ticket to the NIT.

Arkansas 73, Tennessee 69
Heck of a three-game run by the Razorbacks.

Colorado 78, Missouri 60
This one was close early, but the bubbleicious Buffaloes eventually took care of business.

Ohio State 64, Michigan 54
Wolverines can't pull of an impressive sweep for the week. OSU will go back to being the Big Ten's best seed.

Clemson 90, Virginia 64
Losing the game was bad enough for Virginia, but losing by 26 pushes them a little further down the bubble.

Kent State 70, Miami (OH) 63
Golden Flashes hold on to first place in the MAC.

Southern Illinois 46, Northern Iowa 45
Huge win for the Salukis in the season finale for both teams. The MVC went from a four-bid lock conference to a huge mess the last couple weeks. At this point, making it to the conference tourney semis is imperative for everyone.

DePaul 67, Seton Hall 64
That's three straight bad losses by Hall, who's in a whole lot of trouble. Will the Big East - after all the eight and nine bid talk - be a seven bid league?

San Diego State 73, New Mexico 66
The Aztecs come out of the Pit with the win and their lead in the MWC.

LSU 71, Kentucky 67
Wildcats lose first game of their brutal three-game stretch the end the season.

Boston College 74, North Carolina State 72
Eagles get their first good conference win in a month.

Hofstra 70, Drexel 68
Pride get the win, Craig (in Vegas for the weekend) gets the loss, taking Hofstra -7.

George Washington 78, Fordham 67
First game without Pops is a win for GW.

Texas A&M 66, Nebraska 55
That's five straight for the resume-challenged Aggies as they prep for a make-or-break showdown Wednesday vs. Texas.

Marquette 80, Notre Dame 72
Golden Eagles keep improving their seed.

Illinois 71, Iowa 59
Buckeye fans can thank the Illini for their one game lead with two to play.

Air Force 68, UNLV 55
Falcons can't afford any more losses the rest of the way.

Stanford 39, Washington State 37
Hey, when you're Stanford, you'll take a win anyway you can get one. The Cardinal still need to win out, though, to have a shot.

Virginia Tech 72, Florida State 61
This was supposed to be the "gimme" game left for FSU. Can any ACC bubble team win a game? Anyone?

UAB 73, SMU 68
Blazers now set their sights on a season-making rematch with Memphis.

UTEP 69, Houston 63
Most expected Houston to handle the Tofi-less Miners. Whoops.

Bradley 86, Drake 66
Get on the Bradley bandwagon while you still can.

Missouri State 60, Creighton 54
Missouri State may be the safest team in the MVC right now. This win also gives the Bears slumping Northern Iowa in the MVC first round.

Nevada 75, Utah State 57
So much for an Aggies sweep and an at-large bid. Nevada is on cruise control right now.

Texas 80, Kansas 55
Statement game for the Longhorns as they try to win out and, with some luck, grab the final one seed.

Indiana 78, Michigan State 71
Just when you thought the Hoosiers were dead, they pull off this miracle. Before Indiana fans get too excited, though, remember that the Hoosiers haven't won a road game since December and have two roadies (at Purdue and Michigan) left.

UConn 89, Villanova 75
Nice revenge win for the Huskies, as they tie 'Nova atop the Big East.

Alabama 82, Florida 77
The Tide have officially rolled themselves off the bubble.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you think Bradley has any tournament hopes if it makes it to conference finals?

Anonymous said...

I see you guys are as good at picking winners against the spread as you are picking a bracket

Anonymous said...

Nice call guys. Still think Florida State can make the tournament after losing at Virginia Tech ??? Hmm, Seminoles have only one win against top 50 RPI and if Maryland loses at UNC they will have NO wins against the top 50 RPI (being that Maryland would drop out of the top 50 after yet another loss to UNC). Even with a win against Duke, the Seminoles have NO chance at an at-large bid unless they win their next four in a row (which would likely take them into the ACC Championship game).

Anonymous said...

4 wins will take them into the ACC Semifinals, as only the Top 4 teams, Duke, UNC, BC, NC State, will get byes. All the other teams will have to play a first round game against an ACC bottom feeder. In any event, FSU needs to win against Duke, Miami, their first round game against an ACC bottom feeder, and a quarterfinal ACC game, likely against BC or NC State...a lot of work to do. All these ACC teams that are at 7-7 (Maryland is at 6-7) are in the same boat, they need to win all their remaining regular season games and at least 1 game in the ACC Tournament.

Anonymous said...

if syracuse can get their head together and get to 8-8 in conference, they will be in, the eighth team. it's going to be hard to leave out a team with an RPI of 26, a SOS of 11, and 20 wins at .500 in the big east. they won't be any higher than a 10 seed, but they'll be there, especially if they can win a game in the BE tournament.

seton hall is done. that loss today was just AWFUL. they'd need a sweep of cincy and pitt to close the season, and a game in the BE tourney to recessitate their hopes, and that probably wouldn't be enough. look for the pirates to make a nice run in the NIT, though.

Anonymous said...

Syracuse just needs to take care of Depaul. If they do, they should be in good shape.

Cincinnati still has some work to do, meaning win one game.

Seton Hall is dead, this was a disasterous week for them. You can't lose to St. John's and Depaul this late in the season.

Anonymous said...

Missouri State should be a lock after beating Creighton. Northern Iowa keeps hurting their seed with so many losses lately. Stanford should not get an at large bid. They were lucky to beat Washington State in a 39-37 thriller. lol Houston needs to win CUSA tourney after losing to UTEP. I still don't think either UTEP or Houston belong in the big dance.

Anonymous said...

Utah State can say goodbye to their hopes at an at large bid. Nevada went into Logan & trounced the Aggies.

Anonymous said...

The word is resuscitate... DUH

Anonymous said...

Is Ohio State a lock for a #2 seed if they go 2-0 next week to win the Big 10 title outright?

Anonymous said...

Texas A&M has only played 9 games against the RPI top 100. Their SOS is 109th. It would be a travesty if A&M is rewarded for playing a cupcake OOC schedule!

Anonymous said...

two things:

a) if a+m makes the tournament (i don't care that they are fifth in the incredibly watered down big 12), it's a real shame.

b) i'd say that OSU could be a lock for a two seed if they get to the big ten semis. if they win the next two (not exactly incredibly difficult games - NW and Purdue), and then lose their first game in the big ten tourney, they should be a three. i think it all depends on the tourney for OSU's seeding, rather than the last two games of their schedule.

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't Ohio State be rewarded if they win the regular season Big Ten title? Thats why I hate conference tournaments, regualar season champs don't get any credit unless the win the conference tourney which nothing but a big Money maker for the conferences

Anonymous said...

How in the world is Air Force 39 in the RPI? They have zero top 50 wins & 2 bad 100+ losses. The sad thing is their glossy RPI will probaly cause the committee to overlook their pathetic resume

Anonymous said...

everybody is counting out Seton Hall too soon. They are still 6-4 in their last 10 & if they beat Cincy they will get to 8-8. 8-8 in the great Big East should be enough to get them in. Plus if Seton Hall gets a 4th top 50 win, they should be a lock. Many bubble teams barely have 1 top 50 win. Seton Hall belongs in before Colorado, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Indiana, FSU, Maryland, Miami, Stanford, Hofstra, Air Force, SDSU, Alabama & Bradley. At least Seton Hall have some top 50 wins

Anonymous said...

George Washington has played 12 games against RPI 200+, 5 against 101-200, 6 against 51-100 & only 2 against the top 50. Their "best" win was against a Maryland team that will play in the NIT. GW should get a 6 seed. Can anyone out there make a case for GW to get a higher seed?

Anonymous said...

Those echoing that "Seton Hall is done" are probably right. Assuming my Pirates split our last two regular season games (home against Cincinnati, at Pittsburgh), I still think we'd need two, perhaps three, wins in the Big East Tournament to get much in the way of consideration for an at-large bid. Barring that, I seriously hope our Athletic Director has the NIT Committee on hold to get an exemption to play a Monday night game, because the Devils have Continental Airlines Arena on Tuesday and Thursday, and the Nets have the arena on Wednesday.

Anonymous said...

You point out Seton Hall's quality wins, but they counter that with atrocious losses. Everyone is focused on quality wins while wanting to ignore bad losses. You cannot lose to 3 teams in a row that probably won't make the Big East Tournament this late in the year. Beating Cincy is not enough, they need a win over Pitt too. The Big East is strong, but the schedule in conference play due to the 16 teams is completely unbalanced. Not all 8-8 records are the same in that conference, or in the ACC for that matter, but the difference is more pronounced in the Big East.

Anonymous said...

Seton Hall is still alive, albeit on life support. The Hall has a quickly dwindling RPI (around #60) as of today and are streaking in the wrong direction, losing four of their last five games. With regards to your comparisons to other potential bubble teams, The Hall may have more top 50 wins than say....... Colorado, Texas A&M, Florida State, Maryland, Air Force, SDSU, Hofstra, Miami and Stanford. However, Nebraska nas as many top 50 wins as Seton Hall and Indiana, Alabama and Bradley all have more top 50 wins than the Pirates.... and even Seton Hall can not boast of the four top 25 RPI wins the Indiana Hoosiers have to date. So while Seton Hall presents a nice profile, they need at least two more wins in their final two games and two wins in the Big East Tournament to feel safe about getting in this year.

Anonymous said...

that is exactly why teams like Air Force, BYU, and SDSU don't deserve at large bids. They have very bad losses but no great wins. Air Force's rpi ranking is a complete joke. whp have they beaten??????

Anonymous said...

While I agree that USAFA has had far from the toughest schedule, they did play Miami (FL), Georgia Tech, and Washington out of conference...losing only to Washington.

Anonymous said...

They barely beat Miami in a preseason tournament when Miami was playing without their starting point guard. Beating GT is not an accomplishment this year.

Anonymous said...

the big east tournament is going to be fantastic this year. i don't think anybody would mind seeing uconn-nova 3, a rubber match on a neutral court - not to mention the great matchups we could get before then - a pitt-uconn rematch, a pitt-gtown rematch, a WVU-nova game...the list just goes on.

nice win for alabama today over florida, who is in my opinion, the most overrated team in america. but still a nice win for an alabama team that could reall use it.

i'll be honest - i think there's going to be a real imbalance in the number of conference teams in the tournament this year. i don't think it's too crazy to think that both the big 12 and the pac ten will only get 3 teams in a piece. it's looking more and more like the three bubble teams from the SEC (alabama, kentucky, and arkansas) are playing their butts off to get in, while the three bubble teams from the big 12 are trying their hardest to not make it (colorado, nebraska, texas a+m). just a thought.

Anonymous said...

It is going to be very difficult to keep Indiana out if they are able to get a split to end out the season and maybe a win in the BTT. Aside from the fact that they are a respectable 7-7 in the number 1 rated conference in the country, they also can boast FIVE RPI-top 25 wins. They are not there yet and we saw this type of surge from them late last year also, but its looking like this team finally got its act together and are playing as one again.

Anonymous said...

I can guarantee you that if Seton Hall gets to the NIT, they'll play on campus. Why? Because it's the same thing that Big East teams have done in the last few years when their bigger off campus sites weren't available.

The idea being that the crowd for an NIT game won't be huge, so put it someplace where you can hide all the empty seats and get closer to a full house.

The guise? Brining the game "back to campus for more energy"- something that could have been done during the year to help the team not end up in the NIT.

Money talks, folks.

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